Near to Banbridge town in the County DownOn a morning in July,Down a boreen green came a sweet colleenAnd she smiled as she passed me by,Oh! she looked so neat, from her two white feetTo the sheen of her nut-brown hair,Such a coaxin' elf, I'd to shake myself,To make sure I was really there.

Chorus:Oh! from Bantry Bay up to Derry QuayAnd from Galway to Dublin town,No maid I've seen like the brown colleen That I met in the County Down.

As she onward sped I scratch'd my headAnd I gazed with a feelin' quare,There I said, says I, to a passer by'Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?'Oh! he smiled at me, and with pride says he,'That's the gem of Ireland's crown,Young Rosie McCann, from the banks of the Bann,She's the star of the County Down.'

At the Harvest Fair she'll be surely there,So I'll dress in my Sunday clothes,And I'll try sheep's eyes and deludtherin lies,On the heart of the nut-brown Rose,No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke,Tho' my plough with rust turn brown.Till a smiling bride by my own fireside,Sits the star of the County Down.

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